Science without Laws

Ed. Angela N.H. Creager; Elizabeth Lunhbeck; and M. Norton Wise

Description

Physicists regularly invoke universal laws, such as those of motion and electromagnetism, to explain events. Biological and medical scientists have no such laws. How then do they acquire a reliable body of knowledge about biological organisms and human disease? One way is by repeatedly returning to, manipulating, observing, interpreting, and reinterpreting certain subjects-such as flies, mice, worms, or microbes-or, as they are known in biology, "model systems." Across the natural and social sciences, other disciplinary fields have developed canonical examples that have played a role comparable to that of biology's model systems, serving not only as points of reference and illustrations of general principles or values but also as sites of continued investigation and reinterpretation. The essays in this collection assess the scope and function of model objects in domains as diverse as biology, geology, and history, attending to differences between fields as well as to epistemological commonalities.Contributors examine the role of the fruit fly Drosophila and nematode worms in biology, troops of baboons in primatology, box and digital simulations of the movement of the earth's crust in geology, and meteorological models in climatology. They analyze the intensive study of the prisoner's dilemma in game theory, ritual in anthropology, the individual case in psychoanalytic research, and Athenian democracy in political theory. The contributors illuminate the processes through which particular organisms, cases, materials, or narratives become foundational to their fields, and they examine how these foundational exemplars-from the fruit fly to Freud's Dora-shape the knowledge produced within their disciplines.ContributorsRachel A. AnkenyAngela N. H. CreagerAmy Dahan DalmedicoJohn ForresterClifford GeertzCarlo GinzburgE. Jane Albert HubbardElizabeth LunbeckMary S. MorganJosiah OberNaomi OreskesSusan SperlingMarcel WeberM. Norton Wise

Sujets

• Sociologie, société et politique
• Social theory
• Philosophy of science

Informations

• Publié par: Duke University Press
• Date de parution: 03 septembre 2007
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780822390244
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 11 Mo

Extrait

Sc ien c e w it hout L awS

S cie nce a nd cuLt ura L t h e o ry

A Series Edied by Barbara Herrnsein Smi

and E. Roy Weinraub

               

SCIENCE WITHOUT LAWS

ModeL SySteMS, caSeS, exeMpLary narrativeS

Edied by Angela N. H. Creager, Elizabe Lunbeck, and M. Noron Wise

Due Universiy Press

Duram and London 

©  Due Universiy Press All rigs reserved Prined in e Unied Saes of America on acid-free paper ♾ Designed by Amy Ru Bucanan Typese in Minion by Tseng Informaion Sysems, Inc. Library of Congress Caaloging-in- Publicaion Daa appear on e las prined page of is boo.

To e memory of

Clifford Geerz (–)

colleague and friend



Inroducion Ā n g e l Ā n . H . C r e Āg e r , e l i z Ā b e t H l u n b e C k , Ā n d M . n o rto n W i s e

pa rt 1 : B i o L o g y









Redesigning e Frui Fly: he Molecularizaion ofDrosopila

M Ā rC e l W e b e r

Wormy Logic: Model Organisms as Case-Based Reasoning r ĀC H e l Ā . Ā n k e n y

Model Organisms as Powerful Tools for Biomedical Researc e . J Ā n e Ā l b e rt H u b b Ā r d

he Troop Trope: Baboon Beavior as a Model Sysem in e Poswar Period s u s Ā n s p e r l i n g

pa rt 2 : S i M u L at i o n S







From Scaling o Simulaion: Canging Meanings and Ambiions of Models in Geology n Āo M i o r e s k e s

Models and Simulaions in Climae Cange: Hisorical, Episemological, Anropological, and Poliical Aspecs

Ā M y dĀ H Ā n dĀ l M e d i C o

he Curious Case of e Prisoner’s Dilemma: Model Siuaion? Exemplary Narraive? M Ā ry s . M o rg Ā n

c o n t e n t S

pa rt 3 : h u M a n S c i e n c e S











 

he Psycoanalyic Case: Voyeurism, Eics, and Episemology in Rober Soller’sSexual Exciemen J o H n F o r r e s t e r

“To Exis Is o Have Confidence in One’s Way of Being”: Riuals as Model Sysems

C l i F F o r d g e e rt z

Democraic Aens as an Experimenal Sysem: Hisory and e Projec of Poliical heory J o s i Ā H o b e r

Laiude, Slaves, and e Bible: An Experimen in Microisory C Ā r lo g i n z b u rg

Aterword: Reflecions on Exemplary Narraives, Cases, and Model Organisms M Ā ry s . M o rg Ā n

Conribuors Index

Inroducion

angeLa n. h. creager, eLizaBeth LunBeck, and M. norton wiSe

A e dawn of e weny-firs cenury, e face of biology may well   be a of a laboraory mouse. Science wriers, governmen agencies, and researcers alie ou e crucial role played by biology’s experimenal sub- jecs, “model sysems” as ey are ermed, in advancing nowledge. hese crea- ures are no sowcased for eir appeal—e flies, mice, worms, and microbes a are e mainsay of laboraory science would be regarded as vermin or germs ouside eir scienific omes—bu because ey ave become e locus of producing nowledge abou life and disease. To mae e case a improv- ing uman eal ress on our inimae undersanding of a selec se of rodens, fis, ampibians, microbes, and even a plan, e Naional Insiues of Heal () feaures a Web sie iled “Model Organisms for Biomedical Researc” (www.ni.gov/science/models). hese are e organisms wose genomes were sequenced as par of e Human Genome Projec. And as e  wans o mae clear, ey are e creaures a sand in for us umans as laboraory bi- ologiss invesigae ow living processes wor—and ow ey go awry. A spe- cial supplemen ohe Scienisiled “Model Organisms” offers feaure aricles on eig suc exemplary forms of life, from e inesinal baceriumEscericia colio e nemaode wormCaenoradbiis elegans(see figure ). As e ediors explain e imporance of is “moley collecion of creaures”:

Researcers seleced is weird and wonderful assormen from ens of millions of possibiliies because ey ave common aribues as well as unique caracerisics. hey’re pracical: A model mus be ceap and plen- iful; be inexpensive o ouse; be sraigforward o propagae; ave sor gesaion periods a produce large numbers of offspring; be easy o ma- nipulae in e lab; and boas a fairly small and (relaively) uncomplicaed genome. his ype of racabiliy is a feaure of all well-used models.1

 A one level, e reliance of biomedical researcers on sandardized crea- ures for experimenaion is mere pracical necessiy. Biological maerials are, by eir naure, variable and complex; life scieniss ave soug o conrol e variabiliy ey face by selecing ou and sandardizing paricular experimen- al subjecs. Ye ese organisms, no maer ow sandardized ey become as